Background Image
...
Poetry Is A Phantom Script Telling How Rainbows Are Made And Why They Go Away.
-Carl Sandburg
...
Please Wait....
Translating....

Poetry Is A Phantom

Carl Sandburg
...
Poetry Is A Phantom Script Telling How Rainbows Are Made And Why They Go Away.

Understanding the Quote: "poetry is a phantom script telling how rainbows are made and why..."

This quote by Carl Sandburg reflects deeply on the theme of rainbow. It connects to the universal human journey of purpose, motivation, and reflection. Often categorized under Rainbow, Poetry, Going Away, the quote offers insight, emotional clarity, and intellectual inspiration to readers worldwide.

Whether you’re a student exploring new ideas, a leader trying to motivate your team, or someone seeking direction in life — this quote provides value. It resonates because it’s more than words — it’s a bridge between experience and wisdom. It shows how Carl Sandburg interprets life's core challenges and triumphs.

Lessons From the Quote

This quote teaches resilience and focus. It reminds readers that no matter where they stand in life, reflection and self-awareness lead to growth. Each word has meaning, and when studied, it becomes clear how impactful thoughtful language can be.

About Carl Sandburg

Carl Sandburg is celebrated for insightful thoughts on rainbow and poetry. Their legacy lives on through writings that guide, comfort, and inspire. Discover more on their profile page.

Actionable Takeaways

  • Reflect on how this quote applies to your current life path.
  • Share the message with someone who needs inspiration.
  • Write your thoughts on this quote in a journal or blog post.
  • Use it as a daily affirmation or reminder.

Closing Thoughts

Quotes like this endure because they capture universal truths. They comfort us in solitude and empower us in groups. Carry this quote forward — live by its wisdom, share its message, and keep its essence alive.

Views: 7
Topic
Rainbow
Poetry
Going Away
More From Carl Sandburg
A Liar Is A Liar And Lives On The Lies He Tells And Dies In A Life Of Lies.
Liars
Lying
Deceit
The Greatest Cunning Is To Have None At All.
Integrity
Competition
Intelligence
The Buffaloes Are Gone. And Those Who Saw The Buffaloes Are Gone.
Gone
Extinction
Saws
I'm An Idealist. I Don't Know Where I'm Going, But I'm On My Way.
Funny
Life
Motivational
Poetry Is A Search For Syllables To Shoot At The Barriers Of The Unknown And The Unknowable.
Poetry
Barriers
Syllables
Lips Half-willing In A Doorway. Lips Half-singing At A Window. Eyes Half-dreaming In The Walls. Feet Half-dancing In A Kitchen. Even The Clocks Half-yawn The Hours And The Farmers Make Half-answers.
Dream
Wall
Eye
The Peace Of Great Books Be For You, Stains Of Pressed Clover Leaves On Pages, Bleach Of The Light Of Years Held In Leather.
Book
Light
Years
Alike And Ever Alike, We Are On All Continents In The Need Of Love, Food, Clothing, Work, Speech, Worship, Sleep, Games, Dancing, Fun. From Tropics To Arctics Humanity Live With These Needs So Alike, So Inexorably Alike.
Fun
Sleep
Games
Yesterday Is Done. Tomorrow Never Comes. Today Is Here. If You Don't Know What To Do, Sit Still And Listen. You May Hear Something. Nobody Knows.
Yesterday
Done
May
A Book Is Never A Masterpiece: It Becomes One. Genius Is The Talent Of A Dead Man.
Book
Men
Genius
Every Blunder Behind Us Is Giving A Cheer For Us, And Only For Those Who Were Willing To Fail Are The Dangers And Splendors Of Life.
Cheer
Giving
Literature
Shame Is The Feeling You Have When You Agree With The Woman Who Loves You That You Are The Man She Thinks You Are.
Love You
Men
Thinking
I'll Die Propped Up In Bed Trying To Do A Poem About America.
America
Trying
Bed
Life Goes Before We Know What It Is. / One Fool Is Enough In Any House. / Even God Gets Tired Of Too Much Hallelujah. / Take It Easy And Live Long As Brothers.
Brother
Tired
Long
The Moon Is A Friend For The Lonesome To Talk To.
Moon
Full Moon
Lonesome
The Fog Comes On Little Cat Feet. It Sits Looking Over The Harbor And City On Silent Haunches And Then Moves On.
Nature
Moving
Cat
I Couldn't See Myself Filling Some Definite Niche In What Is Called A Career. This Was All Misty.
Fog
Careers
Literature
Hog Butcher For The World, Tool Maker, Stacker Of Wheat, Player With Railroads And The Nation's Freight Handler; Stormy, Husky, Brawling, City Of Big Shoulders.
Player
Cities
Chicago
I Can Remember Only A Few Of The Strange And Curious Words Now Dead But Living And Spoken By The English People A Thousand Years Ago.
Years
People
Strange
And How Should A Beautiful, Ignorant Stream Of Water Know It Heads For An Early Release — Out Across The Desert, Running Toward The Gulf, Below Sea Level, To Murmur Its Lullaby, And See The Imperial Valley Rise Out Of Burning Sand With Cotton Blossoms, Wheat, Watermelons, Roses, How Should It Know?
Beautiful
Running
Nature
When One Has The Right Swing And Enthusiasm, Selling Is Not Unlike Hunting, A Veritable Sport. To Scare Up The Game By Preliminary Talk And To Know How Long To Follow It, To Lose Your Gain Through Poorly Directed Argument, To Hang On To Game That Finally Eludes, To Boldly Confront, To Quickly Circle Around, To Keep On The Trail, Tireless And Keen, Till You Have Bagged Some Orders, There Is Some Satisfaction In Returning At Night, Tired Of The Trail, But Proud Of The Days Work Done.
Sports
Tired
Night
There Is No Song To Your Singing.
Song
Singing
Come On, You Do You Want To Live Forever?
Forever
Want
Live Forever
Tell No Man Anything, For No Man Listens Yet Hold Thy Lips Ready To Speak.
Wisdom
Men
Lips
In These Times You Have To Be An Optimist To Open Your Eyes When You Awake In The Morning.
Good Morning
Optimistic
Eye
Poetry: A Sliver Of The Moon Lost In The Belly Of A Golden Frog.
Moon
Frogs
Golden
There Have Been As Many Varieties Of Socialists As There Are Wild Birds That Fly In The Woods And Sometimes Go Up And On Through The Clouds.
Clouds
Bird
Woods
So I Turn Once More To Those Who Sneer At This My City, And I Give Them Back The Sneer And Say To Them: Come And Show Me Another City With Lifted Head Singing So Proud To Be Alive And Coarse And Strong And Cunning.
Strong
Cities
Giving
Poetry Is The Arithmetic Of The Easiest Way And The Primrose Path, Matched Up With Foam-flanked Horses, Bloody Knuckles, And Bones, On The Hard Ways To The Stars.
Horse
Stars
Foam
God, Let Me Remember All Good Losers.
Loser
Remember
Let Me
There Is Only One Child In The World And The Child’s Name Is All Children.
Children
Names
World
I Doubt If You Can Have A Truly Wild Party Without Liquor.
New Year
Party
Doubt
Give Me Hunger, Pain And Want, Shut Me Out With Shame And Failure From Your Doors Of Gold And Fame, Give Me Your Shabbiest, Weariest Hunger! But Leave Me A Little Love.
Pain
Doors
Giving
Now I Am Here - Now Read Me - Give Me A Name.
Names
Giving
Give Me
An Ambition Is A Little Creeper That Creeps And Creeps In Your Heart Night And Day, Singing A Little Song, "come And Find Me, Come And Find Me."
Song
Heart
Ambition
Be Careful With Your Words, Once They Are Said, They Can Only Be Forgiven, Not Forgotten.
Forgotten
Said
Be Careful
Poetry Is A Sky Dark With A Wild-duck Migration.
Dark
Sky
Ducks
Men Of Ideas Vanish When Freedom Vanishes.
Freedom
Science
Men
The Sea Is Always The Same: And Yet The Sea Always Changes.
Sea
Tongues Wrangled Dark At A Man. He Buttoned His Overcoat And Stood Alone. In A Snowstorm, Red Hollyberries, Thoughts, He Stood Alone.
Dark
Men
Solitude
What If Someone Gave A War & Nobody Came? / Life Would Ring The Bells Of Ecstasy And Forever Be Itself Again.
War
Forever
What If
In The Average Newspaper There Is Not A Complete Suppression Of Stories That The Sacred Cows Don't Want Printed. But Rather What Happens Is That The Stories Get Printed With Stresses, Colorations And Emphasis That Favor The Sacred Cows.
Stress
Average
Stories
I Tell You The Past Is A Bucket Of Ashes, So Live Not In Your Yesterdays, No Just For Tomorrow, But In The Here And Now. Keep Moving And Forget The Post Mortems; And Remember, No One Can Get The Jump On The Future.
Life
Time
Moving
Ashes To Ashes, Dust To Dust, If The Women Don't Get You Then The Whiskey Must.
Dust
Ashes
Whiskey
Valor Is A Gift. Those Having It Never Know For Sure Whether They Have It Until The Test Comes.
Veterans Day
Tests
Thank You Veteran
The Drum In A Dream Pounds Loud To The Dreamer.
Dream
Science
Pounds
Anger Is The Most Impotent Of Passions. It Effects Nothing It Goes About, And Hurts The One Who Is Possessed By It More Than The One Against Whom It Is Directed.
Hurt
Anger
Passion
There Was Always The Consolation That If I Didn't Like What I Wrote I Could Throw It Away Or Burn It.
Literature
Consolation
Ifs
Nothing Happens Unless First We Dream.
Dream
Inspiration
Imagination
Poetry Is A Series Of Explanations Of Life, Fading Off Into Horizons Too Swift For Explanations.
Horizon
Fading
Explanation
Poetry Is The Capture Of A Picture, A Song, Or A Flair, In A Deliberate Prism Of Words.
Song
Flair
Capture
Beware Of Advice-even This.
Writing
Advice
Design
I Won't Take My Religion From Any Man Who Never Works Except With His Mouth.
Religious
Men
Religion
Poetry Is The Harnessing Of The Paradox Of Earth Cradling Life And Then Entombing It.
Earth
Paradox
Poetry Is
There Is A Music For Lonely Hearts Nearly Always. If The Music Dies Down There Is A Silence. Almost The Same As The Movement Of Music. To Know Silence Perfectly Is To Know Music.
Lonely
Heart
Silence
A Baby Is God's Opinion That Life Should Go On.
God
Baby
Children
The Past Is A Bucket Of Ashes
Past
Buckets
Ashes
It Is Necessary Now And Then For A Man To Go Away By Himself And Experience Loneliness; To Sit On A Rock In The Forest And To Ask Of Himself, 'who Am I, And Where Have I Been, And Where Am I Going?'...if One Is Not Careful, One Allows Diversions To Take Up One's Time-the Stuff Of Life
Loneliness
Men
Rocks
Poetry Is A Dance Music Measuring Buck-and-wing Follies Along With The Gravest And Stateliest Dead-marches.
Wings
Bucks
March
Poetry Is A Puppet-show, Where Riders Of Skyrockets And Divers Of Sea Fathoms Gossip About The Sixth Sense And The Fourth Dimension.
Sea
Gossip
Puppets
There Is Only One Man In The World And His Name Is All Men. There Is Only One Woman In The World And Her Name Is All Women. There Is Only One Child In The World And The Child's Name Is All Children.
Children
Men
Names
There Is An Eagle In Me That Wants To Soar, And There Is A Hippopotamus In Me That Wants To Wallow In The Mud.
Eagles
Christian Inspirational
Literature
Poetry Is A Fresh Morning Spider-web Telling A Story Of Moonlit Hours Of Weaving And Waiting During A Night.
Morning
Night
Waiting
I Was Up Day And Night With Lincoln For Years. I Couldn't Have Picked A Better Companion.
Night
Years
Day And Night
I See America, Not In The Setting Sun Of A Black Night Of Despair Ahead Of Us, I See America In The Crimson Light Of A Rising Sun Fresh From The Burning, Creative Hand Of God. I See Great Days Ahead, Great Days Possible To Men And Women Of Will And Vision.
Night
Men
America
What Else Have I Done Nearly All My Life Than Go Hungry And Go On Singing?
Singing
Done
Goes On
The Single Clenched Fist Lifted And Ready, Or The Open Asking Hand Held Out And Waiting. Choose: For We Meet By One Or The Other.
Inspirational
Peace
War
All We Need To Begin With Is A #‎ Dream That We Can Do Better Than Before. All We Need To Have Is Faith, And That Dream Will Come True. All We Need To Do Is Act, And The Time For Action Is Now.
Dream
Needs
Action
Somebody's Little Girl- How Easy It Is To Make A Sob Story Over Who She Once Was And Who She Now Is.
Girl
Stories
Littles
An Expert Is A Damn Fool A Long Way From Home.
Home
Long
Experts
Yesterday And Tomorrow Cross And Mix On The Skyline. The Two Are Lost In A Purple Haze. One Forgets, One Waits.
Two
Purple
Yesterday
There Is A Formal Poetry Perfect Only In Form?the Number Of Syllables, The Designated And Required Stresses Of Accent, The Rhymes If Wantedthey Come Off With The Skill Of A Solved Crossword Puzzle.
Stress
Skills
Numbers
Tell Me If The Lovers Are Losers... Tell Me If Any Get More Than The Lovers.
Lovers
Loser
Ifs
Didn't You Tie The Mittens On Her Feet (wednesday Evening's) Extra Special Nice? Yes--she Is An Extra Special Nice Pigeon. She Cries For Pity When She Wants Pity. And She Shuts Her Eyes When She Doesn't Want To Look At You. And If You Look Deep In Her Eyes When Her Eyes Are Open You Will See Lights There Exactly Like The Lights On The Pastures And The Meadows When The Mist Is Drifting On A Wednesday Evening Just Between The Twilight And Gloaming.
Nice
Twilight
Eye
Our Lives Are Like A Candle In The Wind.
Life
Wisdom
Wind
I Want To Do The Right Thing, But Often I Don't Know Just What The Right Thing Is. Every Day I Know I Have Come Short Of What I Would Like To Have Done. Yet As The Years Pass And I See The Very World Itself, With Its Oceans And Mountains And Plains, As Something Unfinished, A Peculiar Little Satisfaction Hunts Out The Corners Of My Heart. Sunsets And Evening Shadows Find Me Regretful At Task's Undone, But Sleep And The Dawn And The Air Of The Morning Touch Me With Freshening Hopes. Strange Things Blow In Through My Window On The Wings Of The Night Wind And I Don't Worry About My Destiny.
Hope
Morning
Ocean
We Read Robert Browning's Poetry. Here We Needed No Guidance From The Professor: The Poems Themselves Were Enough.
Literature
Guidance
Enough
Often I Look Back And See That I Had Been Many Kinds Of A Fool-and That I Had Been Happy In Being This Or That Kind Of Fool.
Being Happy
Looks
Literature
Under The Summer Roses When The Flagrant Crimson Lurks In The Dusk Of The Wild Red Leaves, Love, With Little Hands, Comes And Touches You With A Thousand Memories, And Asks You Beautiful, Unanswerable Questions.
Beautiful
Summer
Memories
Hope Is An Echo, Hope Ties Itself Yonder, Yonder.
Hope
Echoes
Ties
There Are Dreams Stronger Than Death. Men And Women Die Holding These Dreams.
Dream
Men
Stronger
Time Says Hush: By The Gong Of Time You Live. Listen And You Hear Time Saying You Were Silent Long Before You Came To Life And You Will Again Be Silent Long After You Leave It, Why Not Be A Little Silent Now? Hush Yourself, Noisy Little Man. Time Hushes All: The Gong Of Time Rang For You To Come Out Of The Hush And You Were Born. The Gong Of Time Will Ring For You To Go Back To The Same Hush You Came From. Winners And Losers, The Weak And The Strong, Those Who Say Little And Try To Say It Well, And Those Who Babble And Prattle Their Lives Away, Time Hushes All.
Life
Strong
Men
There Are Ten Men In Me And I Do Not Know Or Understand One Of Them.
Men
Understanding
Literature
To Those Who Had Ordered Them To Death, One Of Them Said: “we Die Because The People Are Asleep And You Will Die Because The People Will Awaken.”
People
Political
Revolution
Time Is The Coin Of Your Life. You Spend It. Do Not Allow Others To Spend It For You.
Self Respect
Coins
I Took To Wearing A Black Tie Known As The Ascot, With Long Drooping Ends. I Had Seen Pictures Of Painters, Sculptors, Poets, Wearing This Style Of Tie.
Ties
Long
Black
Poetry Is A Section Of River-fog And Moving Boat-lights, Delivered Between Bridges And Whistles, So One Says, 'oh!' And Another, 'how?'
Moving
Light
Fog
Money Buys Everything Except Love, Personality, Freedom, Immortality, Silence, Peace.
Silence
Personality
Immortality
In Democracy Both A Deep Reverence And A Sense Of The Comic Are Requisite.
Funny
Humor
Democracy
The Shovel Is The Brother To The Gun.
Brother
Military
Gun
Poetry Is A Shuffling Of Boxes Of Illusions Buckled With A Strap Of Facts.
Facts
Illusion
Shuffling
Ordering A Man To Write A Poem Is Like Commanding A Pregnant Woman To Give Birth To A Red-headed Child.
Art
Children
Pregnancy
Sometime They'll Give A War And Nobody Will Come.
Peace
War
Giving
To Never See A Fool You Lock Yourself In Your Room And Smash The Looking-glass.
Glasses
Rooms
Fool
Slang Is A Language That Rolls Up Its Sleeves, Spits On Its Hands And Goes To Work.
Work
Writing
Carpe Diem
We Don't Have To Think Up A Title Till We Get The Doggone Book Written.
Book
Thinking
Titles
All My Life I Have Been Trying To Learn To Read, To See And Hear, And To Write.
Book
Writing
Trying
Pile The Bodies High At Austerlitz And Waterloo. Shovel Them Under And Let Me Work- I Am The Grass; I Cover All. And Pile Them High At Gettysburg. And Pile Them High At Ypres And Verdun. Shovel Them Under And Let Me Work. Two Years, Ten Years,and Passengers Ask The Conductor- What Place Is This? Where Are We Now? I Am The Grass. Let Me Work.
War
Years
Two
Time Is A Great Teacher, Who Can Live Without Hope?
Hope
Teacher
Time
There Is A Warning Love Sends And The Cost Of It Is Never Written Till Long Afterward.
Love You
Long
Cost
His Books Were Part Of Him. Each Year Of His Life, It Seemed, His Books Became More And More A Part Of Him. This Room, Thirty By Twenty Feet, And The Walls Of Shelves Filled With Books, Had For Him The Murmuring Of Many Voices. In The Books Of Herodotus, Tacitus, Rabelais, Thomas Browne, John Milton, And Scores Of Others, He Had Found Men Of Face And Voice More Real To Him Than Many A Man He Had Met For A Smoke And A Talk.
Wall
Real
Book
Poetry Is The Report Of A Nuance Between Two Moments, When People Say, 'listen!' And 'did You See It?' 'did You Hear It? What Was It?'
Two
People
Nuance
Drum On Your Drums, Batter On Your Banjos, Sob On The Long Cool Winding Saxophones. Go To It, O Jazzmen.
Long
Saxophone
Banjos
Poetry Is A Mystic, Sensuous Mathematics Of Fire, Smoke-stacks, Waffles, Pansies, People, And Purple Sunsets.
Sunset
Fire
Purple
The Scholars And Poets Of An Earlier Time Can Be Read Only With A Dictionary To Help.
Helping
Poet
Scholar
By Night The Skyscraper Looms In The Smoke And The Stars And Has A Soul.
Stars
Night
Soul
Back Of Every Mistaken Venture And Defeat Is The Laughter Of Wisdom, If You Listen.
Happiness
Laughter
Entrepreneur
There Are Some People Who Can Receive A Truth By No Other Way Than To Have Their Understanding Shocked And Insulted.
People
Understanding
Way
I Am The People The Mob The Crowd The Mass. Do You Know That All The Great Work Of The World Is Done Through Me?
People
Done
World
Not Often In The Story Of Mankind Does A Man Arrive On Earth Who Is Both Steel And Velvet, Who Is As Hard As Rock And Soft As Drifting Fog, Who Holds In His Heart And Mind The Paradox Of Terrible Storm And Peace Unspeakable And Perfect.
Peace
Heart
Men
Lay Me On An Anvil, O God. Beat Me And Hammer Me Into A Steel Spike.
Prayer
Hammers
Steel
Nearly All The Best Things That Came To Me In Life Have Been Unexpected, Unplanned By Me.
Birthday
Optimism
Pleasant Surprises
Where Was I Going? I Puzzled And Wondered About It Til I Actually Enjoyed The Puzzlement And Wondering.
Literature
Wonder
Enjoyed
In The Night The Cabbages Catch At The Moon, The Leaves Drip Silver, The Rows Of Cabbages Are A Series Of Little Silver Waterfalls In The Moon.
Moon
Night
Vegetables
My Name Is Truth And I Am The Most Elusive Captive In The Universe.
Names
Elusive
Captives
It Was Here We Turned The Coffee Cups Upside Down. And Your Eyes And The Moon Swept The Valley.
Coffee
Eye
Moon
Nothing Happens... But First A Dream.
Love
Dream
Firsts
History Is A Living Horse Laughing At A Wooden Horse. History Is A Wind Blowing Where It Listeth. History Is No Sure Thing To Bet On. History Is A Box Of Tricks With A Lost Key. History Is A Labyrinth Of Doors With Sliding Panels, A Book Of Ciphers With The Code In A Cave Of The Saragossa Sea. History Says, If It Pleases, Excuse Me, I Beg Your Pardon, It Will Never Happen Again If I Can Help It.
Horse
Book
Doors
Arithmetic Is Numbers You Squeeze From Your Head To Your Hand To Your Pencil To Your Paper Till You Get The Answer.
Math
Hands
Numbers
It Is Necessary ... For A Man To Go Away By Himself ... To Sit On A Rock ... And Ask, 'who Am I, Where Have I Been, And Where Am I Going?
Inspirational
Reflection
Men
There Will Be A Rusty Gun On The Wall, Sweetheart, The Rifle Grooves Curling With Flakes Of Rust. A Spider Will Make A Silver String Nest In The Darkest, Warmest Corner Of It.
Wall
Gun
Rifles
I Have Become Infected, Now That I See How Beautifully A Book Is Coming Out Of All This.
Book
Literature
Coming Out
Freedom Is Baffling: Men Having It Often Know Not They Have It Till It Is Gone And They No Longer Have It.
Freedom
Men
Gone
If [america] Forgets Where She Came From, If The People Lose Sight Of What Brought Them Along, If She Listens To The Deniers And Mockers, Then Will Begin The Rot And Dissolution.
Sight
America
People
Poetry Is A Theorem Of A Yellow-silk Handkerchief Knotted With Riddles, Sealed In A Balloon Tied To The Tail Of A Kite Flying In A White Wind Against A Blue Sky In Spring.
Spring
Blue
Wind
People Lie Because They Don't Remember Clear What They Saw. People Lie Because They Can't Help Making A Story Better Than It Was The Way It Happened.
Lying
People
Way
Time Is The Coin Of Life. Only You Can Determine How It Will Be Spent.
Life
Time
Attitude
And Even Now She Beats Her Head Against The Bars In The Same Old Way And Wonders If There Is A Bigger Place The Railroads Run To From Chicago Where Maybe There Is Romance And Big Things And Real Dreams That Never Go Smash.
Running
Dream
Real
Such A Big Miracle In Such A Tiny Baby. Big Things Often Have Small Beginnings A Baby Is God's Opinion That Life Should Go On.
Baby
Miracle
Goes On
Time Is A Sandpile We Run Our Fingers In.
Running
Fingers
Poetry Is Any Page From A Sketchbook Of Outlines Of A Doorknob With Thumb-prints Of Dust, Blood, Dreams.
Dream
Dust
Blood
Let Your Heart Look On White Sea Spray And Be Lonely. Love Is A Fool Star. You And A Ring Of Stars May Mention My Name And Then Forget Me. Love Is A Fool Star.
Lonely
Stars
Heart
Tell Him Solitude Is Creative If He Is Strong And The Final Decisions Are Made In Silent Rooms. Tell Him To Be Different From Other People If It Comes Natural And Easy Being Different. Let Him Have Lazy Days Seeking His Deeper Motives. Let Him Seek Deep For Where He Is A Born Natural. Then He May Understand Shakespeare And The Wright Brothers, Pasteur, Pavlov, Michael Faraday And Free Imaginations Bringing Changes Into A World Resenting Change. He Will Be Lonely Enough To Have Time For The Work He Knows As His Own.
Lonely
Strong
Brother
Poetry Is The Cipher Key To The Five Mystic Wishes Packed In A Hollow Silver Bullet Fed To A Flying Fish.
Keys
Flying
Wish
The Fog Comes On Little Cat Feet.
Cat
Fog
Feet
I Learned You Can't Trust The Judgment Of Good Friends.
Trust
Good Friend
Judgment
I Wrote Poems In My Corner Of The Brooks Street Station. I Sent Them To Two Editors Who Rejected Them Right Off. I Read Those Letters Of Rejection Years Later And I Agreed With Those Editors.
Years
Editors
Two
Arithmetic Is Where The Answer Is Right And Everything Is Nice And You Can Look Out Of The Window And See The Blue Sky - Or The Answer Is Wrong And You Have To Start Over And Try Again And See How It Comes Out This Time.
Nice
Math
Blue
A Politician Should Have Three Hats. One For Throwing Into The Ring, One For Talking Through, And One For Pulling Rabbits Out Of If Elected.
Talking
Should Have
Political
I Asked The Professors Who Teach The Meaning Of Life To Tell Me What Is Happiness. And I Went To Famous Executives Who Boss The Work Of Thousands Of Men. They All Shook Their Heads And Gave Me A Smile As Though I Was Trying To Fool With Them. And Then One Sunday Afternoon I Wandered Out Along The Desplaines River And I Saw A Crowd Of Hungarians Under The Trees With Their Women And Children And A Keg Of Beer And An Accordion.
Children
Beer
Sunday
Poetry Is The Silence And Speech Between A Wet Struggling Root Of A Flower And A Sunlit Blossom Of That Flower.
Struggle
Flower
Roots
Rest Is Not A Word Of Free People. Rest Is A Monarchical Word.
People
Calling It Off Comes Easy Enough If You Haven't Told The Girl You Are Smitten With Her.
Girl
Calling
Literature
Poetry Is A Slipknot Tightened Around A Time-beat Of One Thought, Two Thoughts, And A Last Interweaving Thought There Is Not Yet A Number For.
Two
Numbers
Lasts
Let A Joy Keep You. Reach Out Your Hands And Take It When It Runs By.
Happiness
Running
Hands
I Take You And Pile High The Memories. Death Will Break Her Claws On Some I Keep.
Memories
Break
Claws
Poetry Is An Art Practiced With The Terribly Plastic Material Of Human Language.
Art
Language
Plastic
Whenever A People Or An Institution Forget Its Hard Beginnings, It Is Beginning To Decay.
People
Decay
Forget
It Is The Business Of Little Minds To Shrink.
Strength
Being Strong
Perseverance
Poetry Is The Journal Of A Sea Animal Living On Land, Wanting To Fly In The Air.
Writing
Animal
Air
A Tough Will Counts. So Does Desire.so Does A Rich Soft Wanting.without Rich Wanting Nothing Arrives.
Desire
Doe
Tough
I Had Been Keeping An Off Eye On The Advertising Field, Thinking I Might Become An Idea Man And A Copywriter.
Eye
Men
Thinking
There Are Men And Women So Lonely They Believe God, Too, Is Lonely.
Lonely
Believe
Men
If I Added To Their Pride Of America, I Am Happy.
Pride
America
Ifs
Under The Harvest Moon, When The Soft Silver Drips Shimmering Over The Garden Nights, Death, The Gray Mocker, Comes And Whispers To You As A Beautiful Friend Who Remembers.
Beautiful
Moon
Night
Poetry Is An Enumeration Of Birds, Bees, Babies, Butterflies, Bugs, Bambinos, Babayagas, And Bipeds, Beating Their Way Up Bewildering Bastions.
Baby
Butterfly
Bird
I Have Often Wondered What It Is An Old Building Can Do To You When You Happen To Know A Little About Things That Went On Long Ago In That Building.
Long Ago
Old Buildings
Littles
Come Clean With A Child Heart Laugh As Peaches In The Summer Wind Let Rain On A House Roof Be A Song Let The Writing On Your Face Be A Smell Of Apple Orchards On Late June.
Happiness
Summer
Song
A Tree Is Best Measured When It Is Down - And So It Is With People.
People
Tree
Down And
Poetry Is A Packsack Of Invisible Keepsakes.
Writing
Poetry
Invisible
Man Is A Long Time Coming. Man Will Yet Win. Brother May Yet Line Up With Brother: This Old Anvil Laughs At Many Broken Hammers.there Are Men Who Can't Be Bought.
Brother
Winning
Men
The More Rhymethere Isin Poetry The More Dangerof Its Tricking The Writer Into Something Other Than The Urge In The Beginning.
Urges
Poetry Is A Tracing Of The Trajectories Of A Finite Sound To The Infinite Points Of Its Echoes.
Echoes
Sound
Infinite
I've Written Some Poetry I Don't Understand Myself.
Poetry
Literature
Poetry Is
I Stayed Away From Mathematics Not So Much Because I Knew It Would Be Hard Work As Because Of The Amount Of Time I Knew It Would Take, Hours Spent In A Field Where I Was Not A Natural.
Hard Work
Would Be
Fields
Poetry Is A Phantom Script Telling How Rainbows Are Made And Why They Go Away.
Rainbow
Poetry
Going Away
I Decided I Would Go To Chicago And Try My Luck As A Writer After Those Eight Months As A Fireman.
Eight
Firefighter
Luck
Never Will A Time Come When The Most Marvelous Recent Invention Is As Marvelous As A Newborn Child.
Inspirational
Baby
Children
You Know Being Born Is Important To You. You Know Nothing Else Was Ever So Important To You.
Important
Born
Knows
Now Is The Time. It Is Never Too Late To Start Something.
Loss
Too Late
Weight Loss
The Marvelous Rebellion Of Man At All Signs Reading "keep Off.
Reading
Men
Conformity
Strange Things Blow In Through My Window On The Wings Of The Night Wind And I Don't Worry About My Destiny.
Blow
Night
Destiny
I Am! I Have Come Through! I Belong!
Birth
Money Is Power, Freedom, A Cushion, The Root Of All Evil, The Sum Of Blessings.
Money
Blessing
Roots
The Simple Dignity Of A Child Drinking A Bowl Of Milk Embodies The Fascination Of An Ancient Rite.
Children
Drinking
Simple
The People Will Live On.the Learning And Blundering People Will Live On.
People
Mankind
What Of The Wright Boys In Dayton? Just Around The Corner They Had A Shop And Did A Bicycle Business-and They Wanted To Fly For The Sake Of Flying. They Were Man The Seeker, Man On A Quest. Money Was Their Last Thought, Their Final Absent-minded Idea. They Threw Out A Lot Of Old Mistaken Measurements And Figured New Ones That Stood Up When They Took Off And Held The Air And Steered A Course. They Proved That "the Faster You Go The Less Power You Need."
Boys
Men
Ideas
Gather The Stars If You Wish It So Gather The Songs And Keep Them. Gather The Faces Of Women. Gather For Keeping Years And Years. And Then... Loosen Your Hands, Let Go And Say Good-bye. Let The Stars And Songs Go. Let The Faces And Years Go. Loosen Your Hands And Say Good-bye.
Letting Go
Song
Stars
The Greatest Certainty In Life Is Death. The Greatest Uncertainty Is The Time.
Certainty In Life
Life Is
Certainty
Poetry Is The Synthesis Of Hyacinths And Biscuits.
Poetry
Literature
Synthesis
I Been A Wanderin' Early And Late, New York City To The Golden Gate An' It Looks Like I'm Never Gonna Cease My Wanderin'.
New York
Cities
Looks
There Is A Wolf In Me... - I Keep This Wolf Because The Wilderness Gave It To Me And The Wilderness Will Not Let It Go.
Let It Go
Wilderness
Poetry Is A Kinetic Arrangement Of Static Syllables.
Static
Poetry Is
Arrangements
I Could Safely Declare, I Am An Idealist... I Believe In Everything - I Am Only Looking For Proofs.
Believe
Proof
Idealist
We Had Two Grand Antique Professors Who Had Been Teaching At Lombard Since Before I Was Born.
Teaching
Two
Literature
There Is An Eagle In Me That Wants To Soar.
Eagles
Want
Mud
Two Bubbles Found They Had Rainbows On Their Curves. They Flickered Out Saying: "it Was Worth Being A Bubble, Just To Have Held That Rainbow Thirty Seconds.
Two
Curves
Rainbow
Here Is The Difference Between Dante, Milton, And Me. They Wrote About Hell And Never Saw The Place. I Wrote About Chicago After Looking The Town Over For Years And Years.
Years
Cities
Differences
The Machine Yes The Machine Never Wastes Anybody's Time Never Watches The Foreman Never Talks Back.
Technology
Watches
Machines
Look Out How You Use Proud Words. When You Let Proud Words Go, It Is Not Easy To Call Them Back. They Wear Long Boots, Hard Boots; They Walk Off Proud; They Can't Hear You Calling. Look Out How You Use Proud Words.
Long
Looks
Use
Time Is The Coin Of Our Live. We Must Take Care How We Spend It.
Inspiration
Coins
Care
Why Does A Hearse Horse Snicker, Hauling A Lawyer Away?
Horse
Doe
Snickers
I Remember In My Early 20s When I Felt I Couldn't Live Past 30. I Was Learning How To Write. I Had A Lot Of Hard Work Ahead Of Me.
Hard Work
Writing
Past
Who Am I, Where Have I Been, And Where Am I Going?
Self Reflection
Contemplation
Introspection
I Glory In This World Of Men And Women, Torn With Troubles, Yet Living On To Love And Laugh Through It All.
Men
Laughing
World
Poetry Is An Exhibit Of One Pendulum Connecting With Other And Unseen Pendulums Inside And Outside The One Seen.
Unseen
Pendulums
Poetry Is
Arithmetic Is Where Numbers Fly Like Pigeons In And Out Of Your Head.
Math
Numbers
Pigeons
Poetry Is An Echo, Asking A Shadow To Dance.
Dance
Writing
Echoes
One Of The Greatest Necessities In America Is To Discover Creative Solitude.
Single
America
Creative
Corn Wind In The Fall, Come Off The Black Lands, Come Off The Whisper Of The Silk Hangers, The Lap Of The Flat Spear Leaves.
Fall
Autumn
Wind
Trending Author
Cheyenne Jackson
Janet Jackson
Frank Gehry
Grant Morrison
Harriet Martineau
Nicolas Chamfort
Category
Information